I’ve been down some rabbit holes lately.

The last few years I’ve been quite unwell… and that’s putting it gently.

My littlest love has faced some challenges.

My entire family while doing well… there have been done challenges and this knowing things could and should be better. My children got so sick this past year with various childhood illnesses that they missed so much school that I started getting those kind but firm hey not sending your kid to school is a crime phone calls…luckily I had doctors notes and bills to back me up.

When your world feels like it’s being turned upside down and you’re anything like me you spend a lot of extra time and energy trying to understand.  What went wrong,  what can be better,  how do I fix this???

No more watching YouTube and listening to books for funsies. I’ve been researching nutrition,  stress,  toxins (probably the most insane rabbit hole I went down), beliefs… my brain could explode.

The next thing I did was probably the most important.  I actually started making changes.  Insight is half the battle.  Understanding what’s going on is huge… but you have to actually take action. I did have another huge realization.  My all or nothing personality is hard to fight.  I’d catch myself wanting to back slide or even just give up because of I’m not tackling everything why am I worried.  I had to fight that and remind myself every change matters.  I also found some passive ways to make that problem easier to tackle.

Getting started had some learning curves. Learning what needed to be priority and even within each category what steps to take to maximize benefit.  Figuring out what things were fast fixes to give me some wins and motivation while other things were more of a long game.

Learning that being sustainable and mindful is more important than perfect.  For example throwing our all our clothing that didn’t fit my new standard would have been wasteful and expensive.  Buying all organic food while trying to make the switch to while foods would have been wasteful financially and frustrating.

I will be making a more detailed blog post on each area,  here is a quick read version of the changes we have and are still making.

Returning to Faith

When I first started writing this, faith was going to be listed but I was going to put it in the section I talked about things you didn’t purchase or consume… wasn’t fully thought out.

Then I thought about it more and decided to put it first. My family returned to church almost two years ago and it has had one of the most beneficial impacts on us, more so than anything we eat drink or put on our bodies.

We found a community of people that would have made the effort worth it even if we found no other benefit.

My children found faith. I didn’t force them. I introduced them and they created their own meaningful relationship with God and I am forever grateful for following the feeling that started as a passing thought, then a nudge, then a burning need to return. Our lives have been changed for the better.

Food: you are what you eat.

Food is a big one.  I think food is one of the most important changes you can make.  As of today (8.3.2025) my focus is as much whole foods as possible,  limiting/eliminating things like seed oils, fake colors and highly processed foods.  Do I still do a chicken nuggets sometimes.. yup I do.  Do I buy my kids cheetos… once in a blue moon.  However my focus is on whole foods prioritizing (in order) proteins, dairy,  fruits, veggies and when we have grains making better choices.  I find kids naturally go for carbs so I don’t prioritize them… they do that themselves.  I don’t do much organic right now except oats. I am starting to think about what foods while be priority for making the switch,  what I can make myself from scratch,  and what I can eventually grow myself …. and some day even what I can raise myself. 

We started shopping smarter by reading the labels on everything and trying to but based on our new standards.  I renewed my membership to Thrive Market (not an ad just like them) and try to buy everything we can not in plastic.

Hydration also became a huge focus of ours as well.

Laundry Detergent

This became my first priority when it came to switching to less and non toxic products.

Why? You are in your clothes all day, you sleep in your bedding all night.  Your skin is absorbing everything you put on it,  and laundry detergent can be quite yuck.

My first attempt to do better was powdered detergent I figured it wasn’t in plastic so better for the environment.

Then I realized the ingredients needed to be my highest priority.

Wanting to stick with my as little plastic as possible theme I started to research.

My first purchase was Earth Breeze sheets (not an ad) . I liked them a lot.  Decent price, didn’t take up much space,  easy to use.  I don’t use them often because one of my kids was sensitive to something it it.  I have some left I plan to use up for stuff he doesn’t wear/ use.

My next purchase that I’ve stuck with so far is Molly’s Suds. I buy the powdered one. I like it a lot (still not an ad). The price point is good and our clothes are clean.

I do still have some leftover Tide Pods I’ve used for some really messy situations but I don’t plan to repurchase.

Clothing

If you want to know more look up the study on dogs wearing polyester.

This has been ongoing. I’m in the process of switching as many items of clothing , bedding,  towels etc to natural fibers.  100% cotton is my goal. As kids outgrow clothes I’m trying to replace with 100% cotton or as close to as I can.  My kids all start private school this year and their uniforms are not all natural fiber and I’m not going to lie I’m not thrilled they will spend their days in polyester… not that they haven’t been before but it wasn’t in my radar.  After some reading I bought them cotton under garments like undershirt, underwear, etc.  Socks and bike shorts I got as close to 100% cotton as I could.

If you want to know why I’m so anti polyester… here’s the summary .

I may start nagging the schools to look into changes or how to make the changes ourselves within dress code but one thing at a time.

As I replace items I am donating our used items. I looked it up and the recommendation is still to donate so someone who needs clothes has access.

Household Products – cleaning

This is what I’m working on currently and probably one of the more frustrating processes because of marketing.  Learning what is actually better and what’s just kind of better and what’s pretending to be better has been a process. I finally got smart and started checking the EWG site vs trusting companies marketing. I started buying from Thrive because their brand Rosey checks out pretty well.  I haven’t gotten it yet but I’m hopeful based on reviews.  I’m currently using Seventh Generation and it works well but the rating could have been better.

Just like with our clothes I’m replacing as I go.  I still have regular bleach and clorox wipes for things like the stomach bug and I will have regular glass cleaner I’ll use until  it’s gone.

Long term I’d like to make as many things as I can…but right now that doesn’t make the priority list and I’m ok buying them now so I can spend my energy on things like food prep.

Plastic reduction

Plastic is a huge problem.  We are trying to limit how much of it we buy, how much of it we put on our body and how much of it we use in everyday life.

We are trying right now to first reduce single use plastics as often as we can by buying products with reduced plastic packaging,  no plastic packaging, or plastic that is sturdy and for long term use.

We have a goal of replacing our reusable plastic such as bento boxes with their stainless steel counterparts. I’m hoping to do that soon.

The water bottles we use are now stainless steel and we are getting rid of our plastic stuff for the most part. We still have things like our plastic Chuckie Cheese cups but we don’t use them unless we are at Chuckie Cheese. It’s ok to live too.

Shampoo bars and bar soap.  I bought some of each.  I don’t know how I did for toxins but I’m glad to be reducing plastic.

I got wetbags for my kids to take their spare clothes to school in and bring dirty ones home.

Frugal tip: Buy things that come in class jars. My drinking glasses are mostly glass marinara sauce jars from Aldi. I just purchased applesauce from Thrive Market that comes in a glass jar..once its empty I plan to use for iced tea 🙂 or maybe bone broth… who knows but I’ll find a use!

Cookware

This one is the hardest one for me so far and my biggest challenge to my all or nothing mentality.

We’ve been switching over our plans as we can. I still use my slow cooker but I do not use the liners.

We have a set of stainless steel and some Hexclad. I am still trying to learn to cook eggs and French toast. I admit I still have a few non stick.. I’m doing my best.

For a frugal tip check out thrift stores and Facebook marketplace. You’d be amazed what you find.

Other stuff in progress

In no specific order here are the things I’m trying to figure out.

Toothpaste

Paper goods like toliet paper and paper towels.

Menstrual products

Supplements

Personal care products

School/ office supplies

Drinking water ( we already have a filter but I think I need to do better)

Take out

Pest management

Lawn management

Is everything in moderation actually ok?

Did I miss anything I should be thinking about? Have you tried any swaps? Let me know 🙂

I’m trying to document my progress on my YouTube channel.

https://youtube.com/@nicoleoconnelltales?si=d-sIr8LaojauzOjG